Less than six months after New York surrendered to activists and banned a class of insecticides with a long track record of safe, effective use, Vermont now faces a similar decision. Gov. Phil Scott has an opportunity to veto the legislation rather than follow New York's ill-advised example.
House Bill H.706, a near carbon-copy of New York's legislation, sailed through Vermont's legislature with little debate and insufficient opportunity for the state's farmers to weigh in. The bill would ban the use of neonicotinoids ("neonics"), a revolutionary class of insecticides applied as seed coatings that allows growers to avoid costly pesticide spraying while targeting only the pests attacking their crops, especially difficult-to-reach underground pests such as the seedcorn maggot. Neonics have saved up to 71% of farmers' crops worldwide.
The bill is now headed for the governor's desk. If signed, it would devastate Vermont's farming communities. Farmers use neonic-coated seeds for Vermont's 90,000 acres of corn used to feed most of the state's 116,000 dairy cows, as well as on turfgrasses, fruits, vegetables, and ornamental crops.
The neonic ban would start in 2029, the same year New York's legislation will take effect, preventing Vermont farmers from benefiting from a neonic-driven competitive advantage over those in New York (and also, of course, handicapping them compared to farmers elsewhere in the region and nation).
The governor should realize the magnitude of this legislative blunder and correct it.
The state's largest agriculture industry segment, dairy, would immediately feel the pain, ironically because of Vermont's commitment to sustainable farming. Its dairy farmers grow most of their own corn and soybean plants locally to feed their dairy cows. They then use cow manure to fertilize their crops and use special soil conservation practices such as cover-cropping and climate-friendly, no-till farming to replenish their soils.
These highly sustainable farming practices benefit the environment, but they also attract seedcorn maggots, a pest that can devastate fields and result in massive crop losses. Neonics-treated seeds are highly effective at keeping seedcorn maggots at bay; without them, this pest attacks corn and soybean seeds and devours them before they can sprout. Diamide-treated seeds are touted as an insecticide alternative to protect against seedcorn maggots, but they are far less effective and are triple the cost of neonic-treated seeds.
If, as in New York, neonics are banned or curtailed, Vermont's dairy farmers will suffer a competitive disadvantage compared to 48 other U.S. states that can produce higher yields thanks to neonics. Moreover, New York, the nation's fifth-largest dairy producer, may snap up what little non-neonic treated corn and soybean seed is available between the two states, leaving Vermont's dairy farmers with less-productive, lower-yield crop varieties.
Vermont dairy farmers have shared that they will not only lose their homegrown cattle feed to seedcorn maggots but also be forced to buy the feed from another source, greatly adding to the cost of their milk production and threatening their survival in the marketplace.
There are additional economic ripple effects. Roughly 85% of Vermont's 2.53 billion pounds of milk produced annually is shipped to other parts of the nation for cheese, ice cream, butter, and other dairy products. Thus, Vermont dairy operators must compete with many out-of-state dairies when selling their milk. At best, higher crop input prices, and at worst, catastrophic losses from pests such as seedcorn maggots, will price Vermont's dairy farmers out of contracts that neonic-using farmers in other states would be happy to take over.
Vermont's iconic dairy food companies, such as Cabot Creamery and Ben & Jerry's, would also be severely affected by a ban on neonics. Because these brands are either owned or largely supplied by Vermont's dairy farmers, who would have to choose between tripling their crop protection costs and losing their source of cattle feed, prices of these Vermont-branded foods will rise. Higher prices mean smaller market share.
If the situation becomes sufficiently dire, Vermont's taxpayers will have to prop up the conventional dairy industry, as they did last year when they spent $6.9 million to save the state's organic dairy growers. Organic milk accounts for only 7% of dairy production in the state, so imagine the cost of propping up the conventional dairy industry, which represents the other 93% of milk production.
Bad science makes bad policy, and banning neonics will seriously harm Vermont by eliminating one of its agriculture industry's most important tools. It's just a question of who will pay for the damage.
Does Gov. Scott want to imperil his constituents' jobs and the state's iconic dairy industry? Hasn't the food and agriculture industry lost enough from last year's flooding and late season freeze?
Scott should veto this bill rather than follow New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's ill-considered example. Thereby, he would be supporting Vermont's farmers and maintaining the competitiveness and viability of the state's dairy industry.
Henry I. Miller, a physician and molecular biologist, is the Glenn Swogger distinguished fellow at the American Council on Science and Health. He was the founding director of the U.S. FDA's Office of Biotechnology.